No, John Tortorella Hasn't Mellowed

Rangers Coach Gets A Little Snippy Again

May 20, 2012

It was an off day in the contentious Rangers-Devils series, but John Tortorella was hard at work Sunday. The Rangers coach used his press conference in New York to throw a few verbal bombs across the Hudson River at his opponent from Newark. Tortorella accused the Devils of overacting an attempt to draw penalties and contended that New Jersey sets picks on the power play to set up scoring chances for Ilya Kovalchuk. Informed of Tortorella's assessment, Devils coach Peter DeBoer offered a one-word retort: "Comical." The series resumes with Game 4 Monday night in Newark, and we suggest Don King act as promoter.

So Jonathan Quick apparently is not perfect. Quick, of Hamden and Avon Old Farms, was touched for two goals as the Coyotes extended their season with a 2-0 victory over the Kings in the Western Conference finals. It was just the second loss in the playoffs for Quick (19 saves), who has lifted his team from the eighth seed to a title contender. The Kings still lead the series 3-1 and can punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup finals with a victory Tuesady. … While Trinity College was holding its commencement ceremony on its Frog Hollow campus, the women's lacrosse team was winning a national championship in New Jersey. The Bantams' 8-7 victory over No. 1-ranked Salisbury delivered the Division III NCAA title to an athletic department that's been home to national champions in squash, crew and baseball.

Josh Beckett outpitched Cliff Lee and the Red Sox took two of three in Philadelphia, winning 5-1 Sunday. Beckett has pitched well in past two starts (one run in 14 2/3 innings) and we wonder if fans have forgiven him for his brazen golf outing when he was supposed to be resting. If he keeps pitching well, Beckett can load up on fried chicken and swig cans of PBR on the golf course and no one will care. … CC Sabathia couldn't preserve a 2-0 lead and the Yankees lost for the fifth time in sixth games, 5-2 to the Reds at Yankee Stadium. Sabathia carried a no-hitter into the fifth and threw six scoreless innings before allowing three runs in the seventh. He still pitched well enough to win, but the Yankees' offense again sputtered — t it has scored 11 runs in New York's past five losses. … David Wright (2-for-4) raised his average to .412 in the Mets' 6-5 win over the Blue Jays in Toronto. Wright (1,302 hits) also passed Jose Reyes and moved into second place on the franchise's all-time hits list, trailing only the legendary Ed Kranepool (1,418). Assuming he remains healthy and he's not traded, Wright should become the all-time hits leader sometime this season.

The Pacers apparently tugged on Superman's cape. LeBron James, stinging from two losses, had 40 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists as the Heat evened the series with a 101-93 victory in Indianapolis. Dwyane Wade added 30 points and it's now a best-of-three series. … We offer this update for that crossover group of fans who love baseball and the circus: Jose Canseco was 2-for-5 in the Worcester Tornadoes' 9-6 loss to the Newark Bears Sunday. Canseco is 3-for-16 (.188) with one RBI and five strikeouts in four games with the independent league team.